McAfee Detects a 1,200 Per Cent Increase in Android Malware

The Android OS has seen a steep increase in malware, according to McAfee’s Threats Report for Q1, 2012. McAfee Labs detected a total 8,000 samples of mobile malware over the quarter, of which nearly 7,000 were on Android. Only 600 Android samples had been collected over the course of Q4, 2011 – an increase of more than 1,200 per cent.

The majority of these threats stem from third-party app markets, McAfee says, and are typically not found in the official Google Play market.

“Malware authors are continuing their unrelenting development of new malware,” says Vincent Weafer, senior vice president of McAfee Labs. “The same skills and techniques that were sharpened on the PC platform are increasingly being extended to other platforms, such as mobile, and as more homes and businesses use these platforms the attacks will spread – which is why all users, no matter their platforms, should take security and online safety precautions.”